One Hundred Years of Flight USAF Chronology ... - The Air University
One Hundred Years of Flight USAF Chronology ... - The Air University
One Hundred Years of Flight USAF Chronology ... - The Air University
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1988<br />
1988<br />
January 1: Strategic <strong>Air</strong> Command changed Minuteman and Peacekeeper<br />
crew-assignment policy to permit mixed male/female crews in launch<br />
facilities.<br />
March 17–18: <strong>USAF</strong> transport aircraft carried some 3,200 U.S. soldiers to<br />
the Republic <strong>of</strong> Honduras to support Exercise GOLDEN PHEASANT.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Honduran government requested the deployment after experiencing<br />
an incursion <strong>of</strong> Sandinista forces from Nicaragua.<br />
April 5–8: Eight C–5 Galaxies and 22 C–141 Starlifters <strong>of</strong> Military <strong>Air</strong>lift<br />
Command transported 1,300 security specialists from the United<br />
States to the Republic <strong>of</strong> Panama to counteract political instability that<br />
threatened the safety <strong>of</strong> several thousand U.S. citizens in the Canal<br />
Zone.<br />
April 17–July 23: Capt. Michael Eastman, <strong>USAF</strong>, and his C–5 Galaxy transport<br />
crew were the first U.S. airmen to land at Semipalatinsk, Republic<br />
<strong>of</strong> Kazakhstan, Union <strong>of</strong> Soviet Socialist Republics. <strong>The</strong>y delivered<br />
sensitive verification equipment for monitoring nuclear tests under<br />
existing international agreements. Captain Eastman received the<br />
Mackay Trophy for successful execution <strong>of</strong> this mission.<br />
August 15–28: C–5 Galaxies airlifted a 500-member United Nations peacekeeping<br />
force from Canada to Turkey and Iraq to monitor a cease-fire<br />
agreement between the two countries.<br />
September 29: <strong>The</strong> launch <strong>of</strong> the space shuttle Discovery marked the<br />
resumption <strong>of</strong> the U.S. manned space program, delayed in the wake<br />
<strong>of</strong> the Challenger disaster <strong>of</strong> January 28, 1986.<br />
November 10: <strong>The</strong> <strong>Air</strong> Force revealed the F–117 stealth fighter to the public<br />
for the first time. Manufactured by Lockheed, the F–117 could<br />
evade most radar detection with its radical shape and radar-absorbent<br />
surface.<br />
November 15: <strong>The</strong> Soviet Union launched Buran, its first space shuttle.<br />
November 30: <strong>The</strong> Soviet Union rolled out its An–225 transport, the world’s<br />
largest aircraft.<br />
December 9: For the first time, the United States flew airplanes directly to<br />
the Soviet Union without Soviet personnel on board as observers. <strong>The</strong><br />
flights were part <strong>of</strong> the first humanitarian airlift to the Communist<br />
country, which earlier had refused such assistance. Over the course <strong>of</strong><br />
eight weeks, Military <strong>Air</strong>lift Command aircraft and crews delivered<br />
more than 311 tons <strong>of</strong> relief cargo to victims <strong>of</strong> an earthquake in Yerevan,<br />
Armenia.<br />
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